I hate digital distribution because I have lost countless tv shows and games because of it. My PC got viruses I lost all my music even though I backed it up on an external harddrive because the drive must have gotten a virus and wouldn't work.

I lost seasons of Family Guy, Lost and American Dad due too PS3's busting not to mention saved data.

So I hate digital distribution. Even when I backed things up I have still been fucked.

@chocoloco: That's where DD scares me, however, in the case of today, it was very convenient to be able to purchase FF IX (my first psn download).  Downloading it took a while, but its an old game, and I have always wanted to start playing the Final Fantasy games, and figured I'll start with the ones I only have to pay $10 for.  As backwards as this may be, I started with 9 and will work my way towards 7 if I'm happy with it.

Its not about how fast your internet is and what not, too me DD looks like a way to screw some gamers over. Why in the hell are they charging PSP games the same to download as they are in the stores?? You'd think that the cost of the packiging would cut the cost of downloadable games. Call me a tight wad if you like I love to be able to trade in my games because i get tired of them and I dont want them to pile up.

I hate DD for video games, that would be just horrible.

This week alone I bought DeathSpank 2 (PSN) and more than 10 old, beloved PC games (GOG.com - incl. Another World, Baldur's Gate, Beyond Good & Evil, Master of Orion 1/2, Outcast, The Longest Journey).

Currently downloading Freespace 2 from GOG, currently playing the recently downloaded Master of Magic (a Simtex/Microprose MS-DOS fantasy TBS gem from 1994 which I haven't played in at least 10 years).

Without DD the excellent remake of my all-time favourite game (The Secret of Monkey Island/Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge) wouldn't most probably exist either.

Yes, I think I can safely say that I like digital distribution.

DD all the way. How many people here can claim to have bought hard copies of Bioshock 1 for $5 or Bioshock 2 for $15? "New". Torchlight, $5. Civ 4 3 expansion packs, $10. In regards to steam specifically, DD is hip, and I'm all for it. I get great games on the cheap. I'd have to wait years to get the same games in a box at the same prices.

Besides, if you're like me you probably have too many games. They take up a lot of space, I'm already planning on ditching the cases and throwing them all in binders. I just can't deal with moving and having 100s of cases anymore (waaayyyyy more if I include my large cd collection). It's just too much these days.

Yes, the deals can be cheap, but I think games should be $5-$15 cheaper upon release as well.  We no longer own the rights to sell the game, which for those of us that eventually trade the game in, we don't have that value.  Not to mention, it is much cheaper to have somebody download a game then to have a physical box that has to get produced, the disk bought, and the box shipped to stores.  I know they have some great deals for downloading, but I still don't think they generally justify a download versus a pickup of the physical copy in which I can get something back for it.

Lets give the example that I theoretically downloaded a full game such as Call of Duty X.  When Call of Duty XI comes out, I want to sell Call of Duty X, and will be able to make ~$25-$30 after fees doing this.  The total cost for the game is $35.  The total cost for the downloaded game would be $60.  On top of this, in the instance of Black Ops, I preorder this, get $20 off a future game (such as Call of Duty 8).  Total cost for that game will be $40 minus a sale of $25 after fees and we have a total cost of $15 instead of the $60 for the download.

@r505Matt: You can get bioshock 1 for 9.99 on pc after shipping.  Bioshock 2 is $13.99 after shipping on pc.  As for expansions, I will say that when I look at Steam (despite not using it), I do see good deals for that, not to mention I got Portal for free off of Steam, which is really the only reason I downloaded it.

If there is a DD console and there is no physical sales of games at all, then the big companies can control the market and never do price cuts, and increase the price if they want to. Since they control the market and there is zero competition. an DD only console will fail, by fail it will sell around 5-10 million units but an physical ownership one will sky rocket like the PS2. 

It becomes more common the older the discs become, the point being physical media guarantees nothing unless you take steps to ensure it will still be available in 5 years. 

I've had it happen only once and even then, I think the CD drive was getting old so it wasn't the CD's fault. I still have several PS1 games and they're all working perfectly (except the ones that got scratched back in the PS1 days). The only kind of DD that could 'ensure' I'm still able to play the game at a later date is one that is completely DRM free so even if the service goes down, I'll be able to make a backup. So far the only one I know is GOG.com, and as they have pretty decent prices, I've been a customer of theirs since, what, the beginning of the beta? The thing is, other services have too high prices and too restrictive DRM. Even Steam (or should I say 'especially Steam').